A mannequin simulating a child crossing the street to board a school bus was crushed over and over again by a Tesla equipped with a self-driving feature on Thursday—safety advocates' latest warning of weaknesses in the automaker's tech as it prepares to launch robotaxis on Austin roads.

Even as Tesla deliveries plunged nationally this year amid Elon Musk's very visible (if short-lived) alliance with President Trump, there was at least one state where Tesla registrations were up: Texas.

Tesla’s ‘Supervised Full Self-Driving’ (FSD) in customer vehicles hasn’t improved all year, based on the best available data previously praised by CEO Elon Musk. Now Musk points to having to wait until later this year, but wait for what?

Tesla is "tentatively" aiming to begin its robotaxi service in Austin on June 22. But leading up to the launch, residents in Southeast Austin are noticing some strange activity from the vehicles. According to a report by Fortune,

Free car giveaways are typically associated with TV game shows, radio sweepstakes, or halftime contests, but right now there’s one being hosted directly by an automaker. By participating in Tesla’s “TeslaVision” contest, you could score a brand-new Model Y and a private tour of the Texas Gigafactory.

With Tesla just days away from a planned rollout of its paid robotaxi service in Austin, the electric vehicle manufacturer is reportedly trying to prevent city officials from releasing records related to its robotaxi trial period.

Some Texans weren't perturbed by Tesla's growing unpopularity earlier this year, as registrations of Tesla EVs saw a boost in Texas. According to registration data Axios obtained through public information requests,